Annual Christmas Tree Chop

December 5th was the day we did our annual Christmas Tree Chop in the national forest in Woodland Park. It's one of our favorite family traditions and so very neat that the forest benefits from thinning (part of forest fire prevention) and the community has a fantastic opportunity for a completely Colorado tree! You'll never see the thick, symmetrical trees like those from tree farms, but we love our "Charlie Brown"-esque tree each year and the experience and memories from finding it and cutting it down. Natalie had a blast until the end, and Tyler was his usual happy self.

-L















Our tree (and a very-ready-to-be-done-and-warm-again Natalie)

Thanksgiving in Tucson ARIZONA

Last Thanksgiving we got to go to Tucson to visit PopPop (Mike), Mimi (Pam), Grandma Bobbie, and Papa Ed! November is a fantastic time to visit since the temps felt just about perfect! The kids had a fantastic time with all the grandparents and great grandparents - especially since there's a slot machine with lights and sounds to play with! :-) Plus, some new toys that then came home with us! We had a fun day trip to the zoo, neighborhood walks, enjoyed the newly redone backyard, FANTASTIC meals (thank you Pam!!) and a great Thanksgiving Day! And Jon and I even got a date night in!! Enjoy pictures from our trip (and ignore that you're looking at them 6 months later...).

-L

Tyler loves his "big boy" car seat!


Day at the Zoo...














Fish as big as Tyler...




The anteaters were my favorite to watch on this zoo trip...




Tyler with a home-grown grapefruit...


Tyler getting to meet and spend time with great-grandpa, Papa Ed...


Natalie "stylin'" with Great-grandma Bobbie...




The SLOT MACHINE...


With Pop Pop and Mimi in their beautifully redone backyard...

First Hair Cuts!

We're going to skip ahead a little in our timeline on the blog...no worries - we'll catch you up on the end of November and all of December in the near future...

January 23rd was the big day...BOTH Natalie and Tyler together had their first hair cuts! Never would have happened if Tyler was the oldest, but having a girl first made it okay to have waited so long to cut her hair for the first time. We went to Great Clips, and they did a great job with really little kids. Tyler started out on his own and then wanted Dad to sit with him for the last part; Natalie (being older and far more aware) wanted Mommy with her from the start.

We did a "before" and "after" for you...and yes, even from Great Clips, you get great mountain views!

-L

Brave boy! He has absolutely no clue what to expect...










Natalie's turn...




"This is pretty cool since I can hold the combs!"


Our super-cute kids!

Getting Caught Up...A Gigantically Enormous Post!

This one is for Brenda... :-) Even with our lack of posts, she checks every day!

Let's do this in chronological order, so let's rewind back to October...

Halloween weekend held a great event for the kids called Trunk or Treat at our church. It was such a fun event! There were about 8 rows of cars with decorated trunks and candy to pass to the kids. It was a nice practice for Natalie's first official "trick or treating" experience the next day. We came up with our car's decorations very last minute, but I love how it turned out! We used the Civic and put eyes and then made a mouth so the kids reached into the mouth to get their treats. The pic shows it...

>

Tyler had 2 costumes to wear, so we did the sock monkey for Trunk or Treat...Thanks Aunt Jenny!


Natalie was a cow (this was SO CUTE on her and especially funny from behind since the "head" of the cow sits completely above her head...really funny!) Thanks Grandma LaVonna!




And here are fun pictures from Halloween itself with Tyler as the panda bear...Thanks Uncle Andy!












I love this picture of Tyler because it shows his fantastic smile and features the 4 teeth...up until after the new year, he continued to only have 4 teeth...we have been through at least 8 weeks of active teething and he's up to close to 12 now...it has not been fun, but I think the first set of molars is just about completely in now!


Moving along to November 14th - Tyler's first b-day party!! We had a Blues hockey theme, and I'm pretty proud of my decorating on the cake (though it does not hold a candle to the cake pops that Aunt Koren makes and sells now!). We had it at the house and had a great number of our friends there to help him celebrate. Actual 1st b-day was two days later on the 16th.




Natalie was (of course) far more into unwrapping the presents than Tyler, who until the last couple months, enjoyed a laid-back, observant style to his days...currently he's climbing on EVERYTHING and VERY active...100% boy!




"Scout" the dog...both Tyler and Natalie LOVE this dog...so much so that we got the girl version, Violet, for Natalie as incentive to potty train. This was going completely unsuccessfully and then about 4-5 weeks ago, Natalie pretty much trained herself for #1 and needed just a couple days of coaxing for #2. We are now completely potty trained and in "big girl" panties...what a relief to be down to just 1 kid in diapers!!


Hockey jersey from Aunt Julie...




CAKE!














The cake tastes good, so maybe I'll try the players...


More to come...much, much more...